So each of us gets $50 per month to allocate to any charitable or altruistic cause that we choose. I don't have any one thing I do; sometimes I donate to a friend's cause like a charity run, sometimes I give it to someone who's having a hard time, usually I send it to an established charitable or political cause: emergency humanitarian aid, animal rights, children's causes, environmentalism, social equality, my college, etc. There's so much I would like to give to, that whatever I do feels like a drop in the bucket, but I'm glad I have this budget so I feel like I can do something.
I never give money on the street. So many times I've had the person clearly ask someone else for money after I give them the bus fare or bus pass they said they wanted, or try to not give me change after I lend them some money to buy food, etc. and so on. Basically I hate that feeling of being duped. Plus, I feel that the money might go to feed a dangerous addiction that's the cause of the person being on the street in the first place. But I still feel mean that I always turn everyone down, no matter what. I realize that especially in these times, there are a lot of people truly in need. And as the weather gets harder in MN, only the people who truly have nowhere to go are going to be out there.
So for one month (or however long my $50 lasts), I'm going to give a dollar to everyone who asks me. Who knows, I don't get out much for lunch or otherwise, so I may not even run into that many people. Or maybe work will slow down around the holidays and I'll take more lunches.
I feel a bit silly doing it, but it's something I thought would feel nice for Thanksgiving and Christmas time, and hopefully brighten some people's days a bit during the holidays.
My holiday charity money
November 16th, 2012 at 06:08 am
November 16th, 2012 at 01:24 pm 1353072269
November 16th, 2012 at 03:31 pm 1353079860
November 17th, 2012 at 12:39 am 1353112740
November 19th, 2012 at 12:14 am 1353284040
November 19th, 2012 at 01:37 pm 1353332266
We have been scraping by on a student budget, so I rarely have the insurance that there will be enough left over to give people... but if I have seen someone who looked especially downtrodden, or especially an older person selling little flowers or garden veggies to make ends meet on a small pension, I would try to make it work with what was in my pocket. I like your idea of planned giving, it makes a lot of sense and allows for flexibility as well.
Jerry